• 한국노년학
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.895-902
• /
• 2019

This study reviewed the diagnosis accuracy and evaluation criteria of the fall risk assessment questionnaire that proved validity through factor analysis in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to diagnose high-risk groups and propose personal fall risk profiles for the Korean community-dwelling elderly. The participants of this study were 439 elderly people living in S, U, B, and Y cities Korea (mean age 75.0 ± 5.7 years). Receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted to review the accuracy of the fall risk assessment and evaluation criteria of the FRA. The results showed that the four sub-factors of the FRA: 'Potential for fall', 'Disease and physical symptoms', 'Environment' and 'Physical function', can effectively diagnose the fall risk of the community-dwelling elderly. The evaluation criteria was presented based on the sensitivity and specificity results. In addition, as a result of analyzing the patterns by the sub factors of the fall risk, the high-risk group accounted for 80% of the elderly who had problems with two or more factors. Therefore, the four sub-factors of FRA can effectively diagnose the fall risk level, and could be present individual fall risk profiles based on the evaluation criteria.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.215-224
• /
• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify risk factors in hospitalized children, and to develop and validate a fall-risk assessment tool for hospitalized children. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed at one university children's hospital, and an analysis was done of the characteristics of all patients who fell during a 44-month period (n=48). These patients were compared with another 149 hospitalized children who did not fall. Results: Significant predictors of falls as identified in a multivariate logistic regression analyses were age of less than 3 years old, neurological diagnosis including epilepsy, children's dependency of ADL, physical developmental delay, multiple usage of fall-risk-increasing drugs. The respective odds ratios ranged from 2.4 to 7.1 with 95% confidence interval (p<0.05). Accordingly, defining patients with either 5 risk factors as fall-prone hospitalized children provided a sensitivity of 93.6% and specificity of 16.2%. Conclusion: The results show that this tool has an acceptable level of sensitivity to assess the risk factors of fall in hospitalized children even though the specificity was low, suggesting that this tool may enable nurses to predict the risk level of childhood falls, and develop preventive strategies against pediatric falls in children's units.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.41-50
• /
• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the correlation of cognitive function and fall-risk behavioral factors. Methods: The elderly over than 65 year-old with and without cognitive impairment were recruited in four different regional areas. Total 43 data of K-MoCA and FaB were collected. Pearson correlation of total scores of K-MoCA and FaB was analyzed using SPSS 22. Correlation between total score of K-MoCA and each item of FaB which describes the fall-risk behaviors was analyzed as well. Results: The cognitive function was statistically positive correlated with the fall-related behaviors in pearson correlation analysis (p<.01). Nine items of total 30 items of FaB was significantly correlated with total score of K-MoCA. Conclusion: Fall-risk behaviors were decreased as the cognitive level was improved. If the cognitive function was vulnerable, the insight to fall-risk behaviors deficits and various fall-related behavioral factors exits. The high fall-risk behaviors were correlated with cognitive function, so that the cognitive level should be considered in fall prevention intervention in Occupational Therapy.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• v.10 no.8
• /
• pp.99-107
• /
• 2020

This study is to design an effective fall-prevention nursing program. Researchers investigated the current condition and risk factors for falls in the small-medium sized rehabilitation hospital with descriptive research. We conducted integrative literature review to reflect the current approach of fall-prevention nursing program. We found that the risk factors for falls are related to the characteristics of clinical setting of the hospital. We suggested the nursing intervention with applying fall risk assessment scale that is sensitive to the elderly population and the intervention that shows maximum effect. In conclusion, this study proposed the way of selecting an effective fall-prevention nursing program based on a clinical setting and prospective of its application. This will contribute to the improvement in nursing practice with the critical view in hospital fall.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.271-277
• /
• 2018

The aim of this study was to select useful items for assessing fall risk in community-dwelling elderly. This study assumed five fall risk factors: Symptoms of falling, physical function, disease and physical symptoms, environment, and behavior and character based on previous studies. The questionnaire consisted of 44 items according to the contents validation, crossover analysis and factor analysis. The Korean version of the Fall Risk Assessment Scale (FRA-K) will be used as a useful tool to improve the fall problems perceived to be serious social problems and to provide important information for prevention of falls.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.311-323
• /
• 2020

Older adults are at a high risk of falling, causing severe injuries and increased hospital stays and treatment costs. This can be a burden not only on the family but also on the national economy. Thus, fall prevention is very important in nurses' and nursing assistants' work. This study intended to grasp the real situation faced by nurses and nursing-assistants working at geriatric hospitals in J province, Korea. The researcher interviewed thirty-six nurses and nursing-assistants in four geriatric hospitals and performed four focus group interviews. Data were analyzed through an inductive content analysis based on Elo & Kyngäs's approach. Three categories and five subcategories were identified. Categories were patients, environmental, and personal factors. Patient factors included patients' impaired cognitive function. Environmental factors included lack of personnel support and assignment of inpatients without regard to fall risk. Personal factors included hopelessness regarding improvement and fear of being blamed. Promotion of fall prevention practice needs a gradual increase in nursing staff at geriatric hospitals, a system for assigning hospital room according to fall risk, and education and support system to reduce nursing burden.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.377-395
• /
• 2012

This study was conducted to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of Multifactorial Fall Prevention Program (MFPP) for local low-income elderly people on physical·psychological, and home environmental hazards, and falling frequency. The selected elderly people was provided the MFPP during an eight-week period of time, once a week, 70 to 90 minutes per each section. The design of this study was non-equivalent control-group with repeated measuring by quasi-experimental study. Data were collected before treatment, 8 week after treatment and 4 week after retention from July to October, 2010. Data were analyzed with numbers, percentage, Fisher's exact test, x²-test, repeated measures ANOVA, ANCOVA and Logistic regression. There were significant differences in fall frequency, balance, fear of falling, fall efficacy, home environmental hazards between the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). This study showed that the multifactorial fall prevention program(MFPP) was useful nursing intervention for strengthening physical·psychological and environmental functions of the low-income elderly people, as well as preventing fall.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.13 no.12
• /
• pp.276-290
• /
• 2013

PURPOSE: This study compared the elderly falls and the intrinsic fall risk factors according to gender. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was a secondary analysis of the data collected for medical checkups for the Transitional Periods of Life supported from the National Health Insurance. The subjects examined were 255,505 people aged 66 years in Korea between January and December, 2008. RESULTS: The elderly people aged 66 when in the transitional periods of life experienced 10.6% of their first falls. The first falls of women (12.4%) was greater than that of men (8.5%) in the elderly. The risk factors for falls included dysuria with an odds ratio of 6.2 to 6.6, depression with an odds ratio of 1.5 to 1.8, gait disturbance with an odds ratio of 1.3 to 1.5, and blindness with an odds ratio of 1.3 to 1.4 in both elderly women and men. CONCLUSIONS: Effective fall prevention should focus on dysuria because it is a more important predictor of falls, even though many intrinsic fall risk factors can affect falls in elderly people.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.252-265
• /
• 2015

Purpose: This study examined the circumstances, risk factors, and the predictors of fall incidents among patients in the small and medium-sized hospitals. Methods: Fifty patients with any fall experiences were matched by gender, age, and medical departments with 100 patients without fall incident at the same hospital. Data were collected from 5 small and medium-sized hospitals. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a Chi-square test, a Fisher's exact test, and a logistic regression with the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: In the patients with falls, the largest number of falls occurred during the day shift, in the patients' rooms, and while they were walking. Further 74.0% of the patients had physical injuries, and 34.0% had to take further medical diagnostic tests. Significant differences were found between the patients with falls and the others on 14 variables (cardiovascular disease, anemia, sedative-hypnotics, vasodilators, narcotic analgesics, dizziness, general weakness, unstable gait, walking aids, anger, anxiety, depression, orientation, and fear of fall). Narcotic analgesic use, dizziness, walking aids, and cardiovascular disease were identified as the predictors of fall incidents. Conclusion: These findings are hoped to be used in developing a fall risk assessment tool and fall prevention nursing programs for small and medium-sized hospitals.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.231-240
• /
• 2019

The study aimed to identify risk factors for falls as well as hospitalization status according to disease and demographic characteristics of demented inpatients by investigating the in-depth Injury Patient Surveillance System data collected by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC). Older adults over 60 years old who were diagnosed with dementia were included(n=1,732). Their data were analyzed after being assigned to either a fall group or a non-fall group. STATA was used for statistical analyses, such as frequency analysis, chi-square (χ²) test, and logistics regression. It was found that 8.0% of the demented inpatients experienced falls. According to the analysis on category of fall and non-fall group were statistically significant difference in age and Charlson Comorbidity Index(CCI) and bone density deficiency. Based on the logistic regression analysis of factors affecting falls, older adults over 80 are 2.386 times more likely to fall and based on a target with a CCI of 0, the risk of falls is 0.421 times lower, finally based on those without bone density disorder, the fall risk for those with bone density disorder was 3.581 times higher. Therefore, we expect that the important about the factors relating to falls identified in this can not only be found valuable for educating inpatients with dementia and care-givers, but also be used as reference that supports clinical professionals to make decisions on falls management for patients with dementia.